Ice skating has become a widely popular form of recreation and is often enjoyed in all seasons of a year. For many skaters the so-called "shoe-skate", i.e. the combination of a shoe having a rigid metal blade carrier permanently attached, has greatly improved their confidence and skill in maneuvering on ice whether engaged in sports, figure skating or simply as a pleasurable activity.
By way of perfecting shoe-skates better to satisfy the individual preferences of skaters, mechanism has been provided for modifying the ice-engaging contour of skate blades. This has involved not only sharpening of the blade runner or edge but the removal of blade metal to retain or modify edge contour as required. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,551 granted in my name and that of John F. Norris, for instance, there is disclosed a widely used mechanism for custom grinding skate blades, an object being to establish a new or maintain an old desired locality of balance along the blade for each skate of a pair. Unfortunately all such prior practices, so far as known, have necessitated some removal of the metal of the blade. Also, it previously has generally been impractical if not impossible to interchange one blade for another of a shoe skate.